Prince William is to visit the North East today, working to highlight the importance of access to swimming.

The Prince of Wales be attending the newly reopened Birtley Community Pool in Tyne and Wear this afternoon (Thursday, October 3).

In addition, The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales is also announcing a new partnership with the Birtley Community Pool to provide much needed swimming lessons and lifeguard training for the local community, enabling young people to learn and develop essential life-saving skills.

According to a Swim England report, although swimming is a vital life skill and the only sport that can save lives, almost one in three children in the UK currently leave primary education unable to swim.

Birtley Community Pool, which was formerly known as Birtley Swim Centre, opened in 1974 but was closed by Gateshead Council in July 2023 due to increased energy and operational costs, which had led to a significant gap in funding.

Following the closure, local volunteers set up the charitable organisation, Birtley Community Aquatic Centre (BCAC), with the aim to reopen the pool as a not-for-profit venture.

The community came together to support efforts to reopen the pool, with local residents contributing to a crowdfunding campaign and local businesses and tradespeople contributing their time and resources pro bono to help refurbish the facilities.

The community also secured funding from Sport England and the Community Ownership Fund.

Over the last few months, the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales has been working closely with the Pool's team to connect them with new partners to support their impressive efforts to get their local pool back up and running.

Through the Royal Foundation’s Community Impact Programme, the Royal Foundation has also:

  • Provided funding to support the reopening and meet refurbishment costs at the pool
  • Helped local primary schools and young people to make use of the facilities, with a bursary for schools to subsidise the cost of swimming lessons for their pupils
  • Established a bursary for local primary and secondary schools to enable local teenagers to train as lifeguards
  • Supported a Community Outreach Officer role to be recruited who will maximise children’s participation in swimming, with a focus on children in years 2 and 3

The new Birtley Community Pool re-opened its doors on September 16, and it is anticipated that 16,000 people per month will now participate in swimming activities at the pool, including 6,500 children.